I can see experience bars after being transported to another world.

Isabella looked at him for a few moments.

Her expression shifted, as if she had anticipated this answer from the beginning. Finally, the corners of her mouth curved into a faint smile.

"I knew it." She picked up her teacup and raised it to Lu Yuan. "Klaus said you're very stubborn, and he was right."

As soon as Isabella finished speaking, she clapped her hands.

Several heavy metallic clanging sounds came from outside the courtyard gate, and a group of people walked in.

Armored knight.

The three men were clad in silver and red armor, the tenons and mortises between the armor plates producing a clear metallic clang with each step. They carried greatswords at their waists, the hilts longer than Lu Yuan's forearms, the bottom of the scabbards almost reaching his knees.

The leader walked to Isabella's side and gave a slight bow.

"Everything is ready."

Lu Yuan's body tensed up instantly.

His gaze swept between the knights and Isabella. The knights exuded a powerful aura, and he was no match for them.

Isabella noticed his reaction, chuckled, and waved her hand.

"take it easy."

She held her teacup, her tone casual, but the weight of her words changed as soon as they left her mouth.

"Klaus has ordered me to keep you occupied for at least two days. You probably won't be leaving today."

Lu Yuan stared at her face.

"Klaus's order?"

"His exact words were, 'After Lu Yuan arrives in Lilin City, find a way to delay him for two days before letting him go.'" Isabella put down her teacup, shrugged, and said, "I was just following orders."

Lu Yuan did not answer immediately.

He lowered his head, staring at the half-finished cup of tea on the table, his mind racing.

Four days outside the city.

They were kept there for two days, then six days.

Even without carrying residents on the return trip, and traveling light and quickly, it will still take three days.

Arrival in the city, nine to ten days or more later.

The last time the ghouls were attacked, it only took about ten days from the outbreak to the stabilization of the situation. Klaus timed this window of opportunity to prevent him from crashing back into the worst period.

He then added a few other things to the mix.

Margaret's parting words, "Even heroes are targets," were poignant. AM twice urged him to leave the city, her words subtly urging him to go far away. Klaus suppressed the reporting of his methods for dealing with the guards, fearing that his abilities would be exposed at the second rank, making him a target for forced advancement and ruining his future.

Can you find another second-tier cultivator in the entire empire who cured a fifth-tier cultivator of a rampage? If word gets out about this skill, it won't just be the forces in Bronze City who are eyeing him.

This group of people paved the way for him from beginning to end; the only thing missing was binding him to Lilin City so he couldn't move.

The initial drive to force my way through had largely diminished.

Lu Yuan looked up and glanced at Isabella.

"Two days."

"Two days." Isabella held up two fingers, smiling calmly. "If you want to leave after two days, I won't stop you."

Lu Yuan nodded and didn't say anything more. Klaus had already considered everything for him, and there was no other way for him to stay for the next two days.

Seeing that he was no longer arguing, Isabella stood up and waved towards the outside of the courtyard.

"Come on, since we can't leave, let's not just sit here. I have something to show you."

She led Lu Yuan out of the manor, walked a short distance along the stone-paved road in the south of the city, and stopped in front of an open shed.

Several horse-drawn carriages were parked under the open canopy, their decks piled high with bottles and jars, each wrapped tightly in thick cloth and secured to prevent them from being damaged on the road.

"Oak Forest Potion." Isabella tilted her head towards the carts. "It's a specialty of Oak Forest City, mainly for restoring sanity and relieving fatigue. These carts are for Bronze City; take them with you when you leave."

Lu Yuan glanced at it.

There was a considerable quantity, taking up the deck of three vehicles. They were all dark green glass bottles with rough surfaces, clearly mass-produced items.

Isabella walked to the car at the front and took out several small bottles from a separate wooden box. The bottles were much more refined than the mass-produced ones, and the mouths were sealed with wax.

"These bottles are different." She handed the small bottle to Lu Yuan. "High-end products, produced in very limited quantities, and much more effective than those outside. Keep them with you at all times, and don't let them get mixed up in the truck."

Lu Yuan took the bottle and weighed it in his hand. The bottle wasn't heavy, and the liquid inside swayed slightly, revealing a dark golden luster through the glass.

He opened the bottle and brought it closer to smell it. The medicinal fragrance was strong but not cloying, with a cool undertone. It was different from the custom-made potions of Margaret, and had a more herbal aroma. However, the combination was solid, indicating that it was something made with care.

"Those on the truck are mass-produced; their effects are so-so, but the quantity is huge." Isabella pointed to the trucks behind her. "Bronze City is always short of sanity potions. Sending this batch over will at least keep things going for a while."

Lu Yuan weighed the pros and cons in his mind. This batch of potions was not particularly precious under normal circumstances, but for Bronze City at present, it was indeed a godsend. Klaus's reserves of sanity potions had always been tight, and Margaret could only customize those below the third tier, with the high-end ones being extremely scarce.

Sending these truckloads to Lilin City will at least make things easier for the brothers in the branch for a while; it's real assistance.

"Thank you." Lu Yuan put the small bottles into his personal tool bag.

Isabella waved her hand, not saying anything more about it.

For the remaining half day, Isabella took Lu Yuan on a tour around the outskirts of the city.

The fields outside Lilin City were larger than he had estimated when he looked at them from afar yesterday. Patches of rice paddies were next to medicinal herb fields, and the medicinal herb fields were next to irrigation ditches. People wearing coarse cloth clothes walked along the ridges, bending over to tend to the plants in the fields. When they saw Isabella, they waved and greeted her, and she smiled and responded.

The people here are different from those in Bronze City.

In Bronze City, all sorts of trades mingle, with merchants, craftsmen, scholars, and extraordinary individuals walking on the same street. The air is always filled with busyness and tension. In contrast, the people of Oak Forest City mostly revolve around the fields, living a slow and steady life, and even their speech is half a beat slower than that of the city dwellers.

We had lunch at the village. The vegetables were fresh, and it was much more comfortable for my mouth than after eating dried meat for several days.

Isabella let him go after the meal. As they parted, she nodded slightly to the two armored knights behind her.

"These two are with you."

Lu Yuan glanced at the two people.

The leader spoke up directly, his tone neither polite nor discreet.

"I'm here to keep an eye on you. Don't even think about running away these next couple of days."

Lu Yuan glanced at him, then at Isabella, his lips twitched slightly, and he turned and walked towards the branch office.

Two burly men in silver-red armor followed behind, the clanging of their armor plates echoing all the way, a sound that could be heard by everyone on the street.

When he returned to the branch office after noon, Bohr had already sorted out the remaining matters.

When he saw that Lu Yuan was followed by two armored knights, he was taken aback for a moment, and then a knowing look appeared on his face.

Lu Yuan was led back to his residence by him. Deng En was also there, sitting in the courtyard. The old bandage on his right arm had just been removed and was placed beside his leg. The scab was almost completely gone, revealing a patch of tender red new flesh underneath.

As soon as the door closed, Lu Yuan glanced at Bo'er.

"Did you know I'd be staying for two days?"

Bo rubbed his nose and smiled somewhat helplessly.

"Klaus made it clear before he left that you were not allowed to return to Bronze City immediately." He shrugged. "You're only at Tier 2, not even Tier 3 yet. You won't be of much help if you go back. You'd better rest for a couple of days and get back in good shape before you leave."

Lu Yuan didn't reply, but glanced towards the door.

The two knights left behind by Isabella stood outside the gate, their silver-red armor gleaming darkly in the sunlight, standing on either side of the courtyard entrance.

Even his own brothers listened to Klaus's arrangements.

Bohr knew what he was thinking and spoke again.

"You're leaving in two days, and all the brothers will go back with you. Bronze City needs us, and we'll do our duty without hesitation. But don't think too much about it these next two days."

He patted Lu Yuan on the shoulder and nodded towards Dunn. Dunn stood up, patted him back, said nothing, and followed Boer out the door.

The courtyard quieted down.

Lu Yuan stood there, listening to the sound of two pairs of boots disappear into the distance before turning around.

He went back to his room on the second floor and closed the door.

The breeze blowing in through the window carried the fresh scent of grass and trees, and the two potted green plants on the windowsill shone brightly in the afternoon sun.

He wanted to take advantage of this state to test the thing on his left leg.

If you can handle it, then handle it; if you can't, at least figure out what the current situation is.

Lu Yuan bolted the door, checked the windows again, and walked around the room to make sure no one was around.

He sat on the edge of the bed and rolled up his left trouser leg.

I poked the insect of knowledge with a symbiotic connection.

Deep within his left eye, the worm of knowledge shone. Having been resting with the key attached to his eye for the past few days, it had recovered considerably; the light was brighter and lasted longer than on the road.

The whole world instantly turned into mottled patches of color.

Lu Yuan glanced out the window first.

Under the visual effect of color blocks, the view outside the window is a large expanse of vibrant yellow-green, very clean, completely different from the oppressive grayness of the Bronze City.

This city is indeed suitable for retirement.

He turned his gaze back to his left leg.

That pale face is still there.

It was stuck to the skin on the outside of the left leg, with blurred facial features and empty black eye sockets facing outwards, exactly the same spot as when it was seen on the road, and had not been moved.

But the aura of darkness has intensified.

The last time I looked at it on the street, the ink stain had already spread from the size of my palm to my knee and then to the middle of my thigh. This time, the black circle had spread even further, almost reaching my thigh at the top and covering my entire knee at the bottom.

It is growing. Growing quietly.

Lu Yuan focused his mind and let the worm of knowledge approach.

The insect had encountered this thing before; both came from the sea of ​​knowledge, so it neither rejected nor feared it. It flew out from the depths of Lu Yuan's left eye, following his will, and landed directly on that pale face.

The moment it landed, a hint of emotion suddenly surfaced on the pale features pressed against the skin.

Something seemed to solidify in the empty, black eye sockets.

It turned around.

Those empty eyes were staring directly in Lu Yuan's direction.

A chill ran down Lu Yuan's spine. He stared at that face, motionless.

In the corner of my field of vision, gray and white text appeared.

[The Drowning One (Parasitic) (Growing)]

It seems to have found a way to continue.